Nadine

This weekend was full of fall fun, and I couldn’t have loved it more!! A cold front finally arrived in Alabama this week, which made our visit to the pumpkin patch this Saturday perfect! There is nothing worse than searching for a pumpkin in 90 degree weather, am I right??

Zoe was so excited about our trip, that she popped right out of bed Saturday morning and said “Can we leave now?!?” We headed up to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, and got there shortly after 9:00 am. There was hardly anyone there, so Zoe had many of the bounce houses all to herself and there were no lines for the hay rides or petting zoo.

We worked up an appetite walking around the pumpkin patch, so we decided to head over to The Chopping Block in Springville on our way home. We ordered cheese curds for the appetizer, and Zoe and I split a burger and fries. The food was absolutely delicious.

Sunday morning, Zoe and I headed out to Aldi first thing and stocked up on groceries for the week. We got back home, unloaded the groceries, made some fruit dip, and went to my sisters for the afternoon. We were celebrating my mom’s birthday with some good food and board games. We played a heated game of Clue, something I haven’t played in forever! It was so fun! We also played Outburst, but it is the version from the 90s, and well, it is hard to think which movies and people were popular then versus now. I still think of the 90s as the last decade, and it so wasn’t!

Sunday evening, we made pumpkin and squash ravioli and called it a night. Unfortunately, I do not have off for “fake holidays” such as Columbus Day, so off to work I went on Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We are already half way through the week! We can do this!

Happy Friday! We had a cold front come in over the last week, giving us temperatures in the low 80s. Words cannot describe how excited I am!! The high Saturday is supposed to be….wait for it….68!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!! So we will hopefully be heading to the Pumpkin Patch, Zoe has been asking to go and is so excited.

Favorite Moments:A friend of mine texted me around 11 yesterday asking if I had lunch plans. I told her that I could easily be talked out of the lunch I brought, so off to On Tap we went! I was good and ordered the cobb salad with grilled chicken and a water, instead of the Irish Nachos and a burger that I really wanted. And the real winner? Was the INCREDIBLE weather!!! It was a perfect 77 degrees and we sat on the shaded patio. I didn’t want to go back to work. Not even a little. I have got to figure out a way to be my own boss to enjoy things like that more often!!

Favorite Product: During the last Sephora sale, I grabbed a Charlotte Tilbury Eyes To Mesmerize Cream Eyeshadow in Marie Antoinette . What I discovered is that it is totally worth the hype!!! This is a one and done color. Somehow, just swiping a little on with my finger transforms my whole eye and looks like I spent a long time with a palette blending colors to create this perfect look. I have worn it pretty much every day since. I cannot recommend it enough!

The Disney Princess nightgowns at Target have been a huge win in our house. Zoe pretty much wears them exclusively now. I blame this on Laura, who got Zoe this Moana one last year. Since then, we have added Anna and Jasmine to the collection. I am getting the Belle one for her birthday. They hold up well after many washings, and Zoe feels like she is dressing up in a costume instead of getting in jammies….which is a much easier sale for a strongly opinionated toddler.

Favorite Grocery Find: I have been doing our grocery shopping at Aldi the last few weeks. In addition to saving a shit ton of money, we have also discovered some pretty cool stuff! Have you had their Elevation bars? At first I had the coconut almond one that tasted like an Almond Joy, and that was pretty good!!! Then I found the Peanut Butter Fudge Crisp. YOU GUYS!!! It tastes like a Butterfinger, without it getting stuck in your teeth. SO GOOD.

Favorite Words of Wisdom:

Favorite Funnies:

It’s book day! I signed in on Goodreads and I am 13 books behind schedule for the year. When I set 60 books in January, I thought I was setting the bar low and I would far surpass that. Jokes on me! How are your yearly goals going? Linking up with Steph and Jana.

Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews

I love a good Mary Kay Andrews book. She never disappoints. I really enjoyed the story of this one, but there were times in the book that I wanted to strangle the characters!!!! I liked both Mason and Annajane, but the communication between the two of them and being honest with their feelings got to be a bit ridiculous by the time we got to the middle of the book. 

Bottom Line: Cute read if you are a Mary Kay Andrews fan.

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

This book is full of family drama, mental illness, alcoholism, forgiveness, moving on, and how the past molds the present and future. It follows two families who live next door to each other, tragic event happens between them and shows how it all unfolds. It did move a little slow for me, but you needed all the details to make some decisions for yourself to determine how you feel about the end.

Bottom Line: Read it!

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney

So this book as been my current read on my kindle app for the last four months and I still haven’t gotten past the first 25% of the book. I have loved all of JP Delaney’s other books, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pick this one up or care. Maybe it was the AI/sci-fi aspect of the book I don’t like? I am not really sure. But life is too short to read a book I am not into, so I am giving up and adding this to the DNF pile.

Bottom Line: This was a DNF for me.

**I received a copy of The Perfect Wife from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.**

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

So this is what I consider a typical Ruth Ware read. The premise was interesting, and the story was creepy and twisty just enough to keep me going. I wanted to find out how it all unfolded, but also, if there wasn’t so much lying and secrets, it could really have been a one chapter book. I saw this bingo game on Ware books and I had to share it…because basically all these things apply!

Bottom Line: Good twisty book. I actually guessed straight off who it was, but then the book lead me to think it was someone else for awhile. I should have known!

Currently Reading

The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

Look at me, three blog posts in one week! Life has been insane the last few weeks, and instead of talking about all that right now….I want to talk about my favorites! Speaking of favorites, who else is stoked that it is October!!! October, November and December are my favorite months of the year!! I just love the fall, the crisp mornings (where are they????), football, thoughts of Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, all the fun fall treats, more togetherness with family, Zoe’s birthday! And also this…

You guys!!!! I mean, logically I knew that 2020 was upon us. But I hadn’t really considered the fact that it is the last few months of the decade!!! What are you going to do to make it count???? It isn’t too late to finish out strong!

Favorite Moment: Last night when I picked Zoe up from daycare, there was a note on her cube saying that she should wear panties to school tomorrow!!!! She has been doing so well with potty training!!! I am so proud of her, she has worked really hard the last few weeks.

Some advice for parents that are entering the potty training phase….wait until they are ready!!! They tried to push Zoe over the summer with it, since she was the youngest in her class at the time and all the other kids were potty trained. But, she was 6 months younger. She simply didn’t have an interest and was not ready. Now that the new school year has started, she is in with more kids who are learning. We did potty charts, rewards, tried out panties on weekends we were home, and were just patient and didn’t force her too much. It took about three weeks, but now she has gone some time with no accidents! She is so proud of herself every time she goes, and it has become fun for her instead of a nightmare for all of us.

Favorite Products: I have tried out some new lotions that I really love. I have been using these for about 3-4 months now. They all smell fabulous and feel great on my skin. The Hydro Boost has hyaluronic acid, so you know it is good!

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Whipped Body Balm – I love that this stuff is in a jar, that way you can use every last drop of the product! This has a nice whipped finished, as advertised. I usually use this in the evenings.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Body Gel – I like this one for after my shower. It is a little bit lighter, and perfect for putting on right before getting dressed. It isn’t greasy at all.

Jergens Honey– I LOVE the smell of this one. I usually switch between this and hydro boost in the mornings. I can only find it at Ulta, Target and Walgreens. Not sure why that is. I hope they are discontinuing it!

Favorite Recipe: Whipped this recipe back out this week! I often make it with just salt and pepper too. I popped it in the air fryer, which worked out beautifully.

Favorite Funnies:

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Well, tied with Christmas if I am being honest. But the temperatures finally drop….except for this year. It is still at hell levels and I am starting to wonder if fall got drunk and forgot it was her turn to come on!

I thought it would be fun to come up with a bucket list to turn to when we are planning out our weekends. I want to do all the fun things with Zoe!

1. Watch Hocus Pocus
2. Make Apple Cider Mimosas
3. Visit a pumpkin patch
4. Bake Halloween cookies
5. Have a Halloween craft day
6. Take a drive up the mountains to see the leaves
7. Bake an apple pie
8. Drink hot cocoa
9. Go the the Fall Festival
10. Have smores
11. Visit a covered bridge for pictures with Zoe
12. Watch the Macy’s Day Parade
13. Go Black Friday shopping with my mom
14. Make caramel apple nachos
15. Read Halloween/Thanksgiving themed books with Zoe

What are some of your favorite things to do in the fall?